2 Britons killed as freak flash floods hit holiday island

TWO Britons were killed when flash floods deluged a town on the popular tourist island of Majorca.

The pair, believed to be a couple, were reportedly in a taxi when torrential rain overwhelmed the town of Sant Llorenc, 40 miles east of the capital Palma on Tuesday evening.

Escape: Desperately wading through the water

Witnesses said a creek overflowed, flooding streets with a strong current of water and mud that buried cars and tore down trees.

‘It all happened in less than 10 minutes,’ a witness told Spanish TV. ‘We had to swim to try to survive.’

At least seven other people are also believed to have been killed in the town. The body of an elderly woman was found in the basement of her house. Two other victims died in the nearby town of S’illot, authorities said.

Swept away: Cars and trees in path of flood PICTURE: SOLARPIX

The Foreign Office said it was ‘urgently seeking updates’ from their Spanish counterparts about the fate of any British people stranded in the area.

Authorities said 80 soldiers and seven vehicles from the military’s emergency unit joined more than 100 rescuers who had been working in the area overnight.

At least three towns closed schools and hundreds of people were given shelter in sport facilities. The flooding also affected phone lines and forced the closure of at least seven major roads.

Evacuated: Families prepare to bed down for the night in a sports hall

Up to nine inches of rain fell in four hours in some parts of the island on Tuesday evening.